by Willa Okati
Nope. Not just nope, hell to the fucking no. Coby took one whiff and lunged toward the opposite side of the bed. Darian couldn’t see his head, but he did recognize the sound of gut-wrenching hurling when he heard it. “Jesus Christ.” That sounded worse than food poisoning. Did he have the flu? “Get your ass out of bed, man. We’re going to the health center.”
“No.” Coby looked up, his jaw set hard. He shook his head, softened his glare to something rueful, and made it all the way to sitting up. “I’ll be fine. Go get something to eat somewhere else, though, would you? Bring me back something fizzy to drink.”
Darian’s stomach grumbled. He needed calories too, but… “You sure?”
“Fuck yes.” Coby collapsed back into bed, but he smiled at Darian out of the side of his mouth not smashed into his pillow. “Call Oscar. He’ll keep you company. I’ll be more myself when you get back.”
Darian wasn’t any too sure about that, but for once in his life concern rode roughshod straight over the need to fight, and after a brief fit of foot-tapping indecision, he figured it might be best to do what he’d been told for once. “If you’re not better when I get back, you’re going to a doctor. I have better things to do than fret over your puking.”
Coby laughed into his pillow. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I care about you too. Go already.”
Chapter Six
“Huh,” Oscar said as he munched on the bagels and peanut butter they’d scavenged from the cafeteria, which wouldn’t have opened its doors before dinner hour if they hadn’t been scared shitless of Darian and whoever accompanied him by then. “Huh.”
“That’s helpful. Thank you.”
Oscar chewed and swallowed, tossed the last bite of his bagel to a nosy crow, and leaned back. “Huh.” He eyed Darian, who hadn’t bothered too much with his own bagel. “Hmm.”
Darian shot him a sideways unimpressed look. “If you don’t have anything to contribute besides noise, I’d rather go back to Coby and listen to the spewing for a while.”
Oscar took out a cigarette and lit it, blowing the smoke away from Darian while he mused over whatever the fuck he might have been thinking. “Haul him to the doctor if you have to. You might have to toss him over your shoulder, and he’d skin his knees raw on the way there because he’s taller than a giraffe, but you need to know what’s going on.”
Huh, Darian thought, then swore at himself because that shit was apparently catching. Still, he couldn’t help catching a subtle emphasis on the you that made it singular, aimed solely at him. “What aren’t you saying?”
Oscar gave him a sideways look right back, shook his head, and said nothing except, “Got any better ideas?”
Not exactly. Darian sat up on his heels, all the better to think, and racked his brain until one tiny spark went off. Maybe… Coby kept it buried these days, but he did have a taste for romance and that so wasn’t Darian’s strong suit. Maybe he needed a little wining and dining, or the kind of equivalent that wouldn’t end up in a messy puddle.
It was as good an idea as any. Darian shredded his bagel and tossed the pieces at a handful of curious squirrels, then stood. He liked it when he had a mission and a direction to point himself in. This one started with going back to the room. Which he would have done anyway, but he had a reason. Besides the usual.
As he walked away, he could hear Oscar lying back and laughing under his breath.
What the fuck even?
* * *
Darian took a few laps around campus, chewing over his idea until he was sure it’d be worth a shot, and the dinner hour was past by the time he got back to their room. Coby’d made it out of bed, had even showered and put on clean clothes, and Darian smelled the mint of mouthwash. He’d parked his ass back on the edge of the bed, looking as deeply self-focused and not-thrilled as he used to be, but he looked up when Darian opened the door and his grin was the new kind. “Hey.”
“Hey to you too.” Darian walked to him and nudged Coby’s sneaker with the toe of his bed. “C’mon, out of bed. It’s already sunset.”
Coby raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“And we’ve got somewhere to be before it gets really dark.”
“Not the doctor,” Coby warned. “I’m serious, Darian.”
Darian raised one hand. “Not the doctor. I like your knees with skin on.”
Coby blinked at him.
“Never mind. Some shit Oscar said.” Darian held out the hand he raised. “You trust me?”
“Okay, Aladdin,” Coby snorted -- but he took the hand Darian offered, and let Darian lever him up and standing. “Where are we headed?”
Darian grinned at him. “You’ll see. Follow me.”
He turned to lead the way and might -- or might not -- have imagined Coby murmuring behind him, “I always do.”
* * *
“You brought me out here to play hacky sack?”
“Stop looking at the damn bag like it’s a grenade.” Darian caught the little grain-stuffed leather ball when Coby, eyebrow arched high in disbelief, tossed it back to him. “You have to have played before. It’s a fucking college staple.”
Coby caught Darian’s return throw. The hack looked tiny in his palm, more like a ping-pong ball. “Yeah, if you grew up in the 90’s. I think my dad played this with his buddies.” He flipped it into the air, watched it spin, and caught it neatly as it fell. “Where’d you even get this?”
“Someone left it on a bench.”
“Oh my God, you are such a dick!” Coby shoved him sideways, laughing. “You didn’t really, did you?”
Darian nodded in satisfaction. That was more like it. Definitely worth a little petty larceny. “Hey, whoever left it there was long gone. I looked around. Even waved it in the air and asked if it belonged to anyone.”
Which he had, no matter how crazy it’d looked, and it’d sent the few people around him running for cover.
Huh. Maybe he was getting a reputation.
Eh, there were worse things in the world. Darian caught the hack when Coby lobbed it to him, dropped it, and kicked it from foot to foot without breaking his stride. “See? Easy.”
“Yeah, for someone who’s small and nimble. I’d probably kick it through a window by accident.”
“Windows can be fixed, and no you won’t, it’s not that heavy. Come on, at least try.” Darian stopped kicking the hack long enough to turn Coby around to face him. He nudged Coby’s ankles apart to about the right distance. “I kick, you kick back. First one to fumble loses.”
Coby looked down at their feet, chewing at his lip, then shook his head. “No. Too much difference. In the height, I mean.”
Darian swallowed a frustrated noise. He wouldn’t even try?
As if he could read Darian’s mind, Coby gave him a rueful shrug. “Sorry. Not feeling it tonight. But…” He reached out and took Darian’s hand, lacing their fingers together. Such big hands. His swallowed Darian’s as much as it had the hack. “We could keep walking and doing this.”
When he put it that way… Darian tossed the hack over his shoulder. Someone else could enjoy it. He squeezed Coby’s hand once, roughly. “Yeah, all right.”
“Which in Darian-speak means ‘thanks.’” Coby leaned into him, kissed his cheek, and pressed the sides of their heads briefly together. “I’m not sick, okay? Don’t try to make me better. You’re not a doctor and you’re a terrible nurse.”
Darian scoffed, but he gave Coby’s hand a small tug to say what he wasn’t sure how to. I worry about you and I want to take care of you so let me, damn it and whatever, bitch all rolled into one. He knew Coby understood that too. His chuckle said it all.
Slower than before, they ambled across the quad. Easy, peaceful. A quiet night for the Fourth, and for a college campus. A handful of kids with acoustic guitars clustered on the library steps, picking their way through learning new songs. Fireflies blinked on in the deepening dusk, flickers of light that danced across the maze of sidewalks and paths and under the trees they liked best f
or lazing beneath. Coby went slightly green every time they passed a trash can, but nothing worse, and when Darian pulled a plain granola bar he’d filched from the cafeteria out of his pocket and broke it in half to share, Coby ate his part without any gagging. Absently, probably not really tasting it, but getting some calories in him regardless. Darian nibbled at his share once or twice, and since Coby wasn’t paying that much attention, put it in his hand and got him to eat the that portion as well.
Much better. Too pleased with himself to keep cool, he pulled Coby around in a looping circle more or less in time with the guitarists. Startled, Coby laughed out loud, bright and fucking gorgeous. “You’re out of your mind.”
For you, Darian thought, but kept to himself. “I know you can dance. I’ve seen it.”
“Twerking to the radio doesn’t count.”
“Counted for me,” Darian said, because that was another of those snapshot memories he kept safely stored away -- already kind of ragged at its edges from too much handling, but damn. He gave Coby a good once-over. “What song was that again, that got you so worked up? Asking for a friend.”
Coby laughed more quietly this time, shaking his head, but he moved a couple steps closer to Darian, close enough for their body heat to warm each other as they walked. “I like crazy.”
“Fortunate for me.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Coby cocked his head. “Where are we going? I didn’t think to ask.”
More like he’d been too out of it to come up with questions, but he seemed to be waking up now. “Not far now.” Darian tugged his hand, coaxing him to pick up the pace a notch or two. “Or really fucking far. I forget which.”
“What?” Coby’s face wrinkled in confusion, but he didn’t stop walking. “Seriously. Where are we going?”
Darian glanced sideways at him and put a finger to his lips.
“You pick now to be the quiet type,” Coby grumbled. He knocked their shoulders together. “Okay, Mysterio. Lead the way. Show me what you’ve got.”
Wouldn’t he just. Darian had plans for that too -- but later.
He kind of wanted to see what Coby thought of this, first.
* * *
“The bridge?” Coby let go of Darian’s hand. Eyes wide, he turned in a -- very careful -- slow circle. “You hate this bridge.”
Darian shrugged. “Everyone, except you, who has a working brain hates this bridge. It’s a death trap waiting to happen.”
“Then why…”
In answer, Darian tugged the now-crumpled flyer out of his pocket and handed it over. He watched Coby read and process before saying, “No one else would even think about coming here, but -- look, see those lights down there? That’s where they’re getting ready to set off the fireworks. I figured this would be the best place for a private show.”
Coby’s smile dawned slowly, but it was one of his most beautiful ever, wide and delighted. “You brought me here because you knew I’d love it.”
Darian made a face and grumbled, looking away because he knew he couldn’t hide the twinkle in his eyes -- then looking back because he couldn’t not look at Coby, especially when he was that happy. Coby ought to be happy all the time. Pissed him off when things upset Coby. He could deal with making it his mission to make that happen.
At least as long as the summer lasted, anyway. Darian’s frown drifted back over his face. The Fourth already, and he hadn’t even thought about how that meant their time together was nearly half over. Damn.
Coby let out a quiet exhale. Probably thinking the same thing.
Well, that didn’t gel with the mission Darian had assigned himself. He tugged Coby’s hand again, leading him across the tracks and to the bridge railing. Way too close to the edge for his comfort, and when he looked down a swirling whoosh of vertigo made him feel like he was falling. He caught his breath, a sharp gasp, and grabbed the railing.
“Whoa. Darian, careful.” Coby pulled at his shoulders, trying to walk him backward. “I don’t know how strong that rail is.”
But Darian could be really fucking stupid sometimes. He’d own that. And he fucking hated running headfirst into any kind of weakness. He shook off what he could of the vertigo, ignored the rest, and shrugged out of Coby’s hands. “It’s been here for a hundred years. It’s strong enough.” He took a deep breath, went to his knees, and crawled under the lowest rail, bringing himself up on the opposite side. That was how you faced your fears: head-fucking-on.
“Darian, don’t --” Coby yelped.
Too late. Darian stood up. He clung white-knuckled to the wood, only the strength of his grip and his planted feet and some really old wood standing between himself and a nasty plunge that’d render him a formerly human pancake when he hit the bottom. If he fell.
Which he wouldn’t. Coby wound his arms around Darian as far as they’d go and knotted them in his shirt. Strong as an ox, better than a harness. “Darian, oh my God, what the hell. Are you really crazy?”
“No. I knew you wouldn’t let me go.” Darian pressed his mouth to Coby’s neck, then blinked in surprise at the frantic-fast hammering of his pulse. “Wait. Are you really scared?”
“What the fuck do you think, you idiot?” Coby yanked at Darian, clearly meaning to haul him bodily back to the other side if he had to -- and frankly, Darian was too taken aback to stop him. The old wood held as Coby dragged him over the rails, the Omega holding his breath until he had Darian safe on less-perilous ground.
He let go to drag his hands through his hair and give Darian a wild, disbelieving stare. Darian opened his mouth, but lost whatever he’d meant to say when Coby kissed him as if it was the last chance he’d ever get, then threw both arms around him again. Nearly squeezed all the air and a few organs out of him with a grizzly-bear’s bear hug. His heart hadn’t slowed, not even a fraction.
“Jesus.” Darian hugged him back, more carefully because Coby had started shaking and he wasn’t too sure the Omega wouldn’t shatter like an old vase if Darian squeezed him too hard. “I didn’t mean to freak you out that bad. Swear.”
“You did.” Coby didn’t let go. “Don’t do that again, Darian.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Even if he wanted to, and there had been an adrenaline rush there that made Darian understand the appeal of bungee jumping. But -- not if it did that to Coby. Not worth it. He peeled himself carefully out of Coby’s hold enough to get some needed oxygen, and to put his hand to Coby’s cheek. “You reading me? I promise.”
Coby covered Darian’s hand with his, shuddered, and let out a sigh.
He needed more than a promise. Darian took his arm and guided him down until he got the idea and sat on the ground safely behind the bridge railing. Darian sat behind him, tossing his legs over Coby’s to help keep him anchored.
That got him a snort and a wry look over the shoulder. “I feel like you’re about to ask me for a piggyback ride. Short-legged man.”
“Long-legged giraffe,” Darian retorted. He hitched forward and looped his arms around Coby’s waist. “Deal with it -- and hey, there, look.” Pointing, he traced a plume of smoke heading for the sky. As they both looked up, the first of the Fourth fireworks exploded in a ball of purple sparks overhead. “Say, can you see.”
Coby’s pulse finally started to slow to something not in heart attack range. He looked as enchanted as a kid, watching the purple sparks fall in slow motion, followed by bursts of gold and bright crimson and electric green, one after the other. “God. They’re beautiful.”
“I know.” Darian tucked his chin over Coby’s shoulder. “Roman candles?”
Coby stroked Darian’s hands where they’d locked around his waist but didn’t look away from the night sky and the exploding lights. “So far,” he said, drawing loops and circles on Darian’s palm with his thumb. “I love fireworks.”
And I love -- Darian shook his head. Do you feel the same way for me --
He put his mouth to Coby’s throat instead, wanting the salty taste of skin and Omega
to replace the woodiness of bland granola and the sharp sourness of alarm. Once there, once Coby leaned his head aside to give him room, he had to burrow closer and splay his fingers wide across Coby’s chest. Coby made a low humming noise and shifted his hips, and there was an idea, wasn’t there? Darian hitched forward to bring them body to body and press himself against the too-inviting curve of Coby’s ass.
“Oh my God,” Coby laughed. “Are you never not horny?”
Darian pretended to consider that. “Hmm… nope.” Least not when it came to Coby, and then he couldn’t get enough. He rolled his cock against Coby’s ass, and liked that so much he had to do it again. Liked it even better when Coby moaned a deep “oh God, yeah” and rolled back. He wasn’t the only one who’d gone insatiable.
But it could get better. Darian slid backward, bringing Coby with him until their legs didn’t dangle over the edge of the bridge, and turned him onto his back. Even with the fireworks going off faster and hotter, felt like slow and steady was the way to go. He draped himself purposefully over Coby, short legs be damned, and gave Coby one thigh to grind up against.
Plenty to grind with. Darian had to feel that, even if he already knew it by heart. He flicked open Coby’s belt and slid his hand beneath it, taking Coby’s cock in hand. Fucking hell, he was harder than ever before, straining up into Darian’s palm. He kissed Darian rough and messy between startled gasps, already wet and leaking from cock and channel. Darian moved his fingers low and brought the lubrication high, making it easy, keeping it slow, but not showing him any mercy either. Coby clutched his shoulders in a different way, urging on his languid roll. He panted between kisses, small moans and groans and pleas that went straight to Darian’s head.
